I wasn’t eligible for CA Articleship. I found a way to gain entry into the corporate world through internships!
About the Author: Yuvika Jain is pursuing M.Com from Mumbai University. She talks about how an internship provided her the chance to enter into the corporate world when she wasn’t eligible for her Articleship.
Age of 21 – an alarming situation for all the youngsters as it’s the time when one enters the real world. Where do I go? Which company is the best to suit my career goals? Am I capable enough to compete with others?
My mind was full of these questions. Like every 2nd person out of 10 who joins CA profession, I had joined as I was very passionate about having a professional degree. However, at times, life doesn’t fulfill all your dreams at one go. I couldn’t clear my Group I of IPCC although I had passed Group II. This made my life very difficult. Seeing my friends clear the same exams and hearing my relatives talk about my inability to clear an exam had made me depressed. Somehow, I still kept on assuring myself that I could do it!
One day while browsing on Facebook, I noticed that many of my friends had liked a page called Internshala. I was intrigued and so I checked their Facebook page. I was forced to visit their website because of the tagline – “Internships That Matter.” I was craving to gain the corporate world experience, but I wasn’t eligible to start my Articleship and so I decided to apply for internships. I created my resume on Internshala and applied in approx. 6-7 companies, but there was no response for 2-3 days. I started feeling tense but then on a weekend I received a call from an employer which went something like this:
Interviewer: Hi Yuvika, I’m calling from Valuefy Solutions Pvt Ltd (VSPL). This is in response to the Accounts internship that you had applied to on Internsahala. Can I speak to you for some time regarding that?
Me (in a joyous mood after hearing this): Yes, of course.
Interviewer: Can you describe your academic qualifications and achievements? Is this your first internship or have you done internships before?
I talked about my academic qualifications and achievements and also about my co-curricular activities. I said that I had done an internship at a CA firm before this and shared my learnings from that internship experience.
The conversation then proceeded to the work that I was expected to do as an intern. He asked me whether I would be able to do it to which I replied that as I had previous experience of handling similar kind of profile, I was pretty comfortable. I further added that I was interested in trying out new areas and would like to know more about the company and its businesses. He was impressed with my answers and invited me to the company office for a personal interview. Next day, I went for the interview and to my surprise, the person who had taken my interview turned out to be one of the directors of VSPL. He discussed all the possible things I had to do in my internship duration, the company’s policies, etc. It was just a small briefing session; they had already made their mind about selecting me.
The real task i.e. my 2-month internship at VSPL started from the next day. Nervousness, excitement, happiness – I had mixed feelings on the first day of my internship. At first, it seemed that there were only 3 people in that office – the 2 directors and myself. But later, one girl came to my desk and asked for having lunch with her. I followed her and there came the big surprise – in addition to the 3 of us, there were approx. 15 more employees working in a separate room in various departments. Days passed by and my friendship strengthened with all the colleagues. The tiffin sharing incidences, festival celebrations, birthday celebrations – all of these helped me in bonding with others. Being an accounts internship, I was given to sort the vouchers (bills) of the current year as well as of the 3-4 previous years. My responsibilities also included sorting and keeping records of the reimbursements of the directors and the employees. I also handled petty cash and followed up various clients for obtaining payments from them.
Soon, the IPCC results were also declared. When I checked the results, I was relieved that I had cleared the exam. I was finally eligible to start my CA Articleship of 3 years! I couldn’t control my happiness and started crying. People around me got worried. I was in a situation where I wanted to tell everybody that I passed but was unable to tell. After 10-15 minutes, when I shared this news with them, all I could hear was – claps, claps, and some more claps. The after-office celebration was just the cherry on the cake.
In the end, I would like to share a couple of tips with students that I learned from my personal experience:
1. Don’t fake your resume. Provide all the details in your resume so that the employer knows your actual capabilities. This will only help you during the interviews because an interviewer easily understands when you are lying.
2. Don’t be terrified of interviews. Think of it as any normal conversation with your friend who wants to know more about you and your capabilities. You just need to have faith in yourself.
It’s been 4 months since I left VSPL, but it still feels like I just left yesterday. A good work culture, flexible timings, and helpful staff is something that every intern wishes before entering the tough and competitive corporate world, and I’m glad that I got all of it. The experience I gained during the internship is even helping me during my Articleship. Thank you, Internshala, for providing wings to my dreams and for introducing me to such great colleagues.
Inspired by Yuvika’s journey? Register and get yourself similar CA internships and accounts internships. The corporate world is waiting for you!
